Conventional goalie hockey sticks comprise a blade, a shaft and a paddle. As used herein, the term "blade" refers to the portion of a hockey stick that contacts the playing surface when the hockey stick is held vertically in the position in which it is normally held by a player during play. As used herein, the term "shaft" refers to the portion of a hockey stick that is normally held by the hockey player during play and extends down to the blade. As used herein, the term "paddle" refers to the portion of a hockey stick typically used by goalies where the shaft is widened and which extends from the heel of the blade to the portion of the shaft where it is typically held by the goalie.
Known goalie sticks are formed by rigidly attaching the shaft to a blade at the heel of the blade and subsequently adding a paddle which serves to widen the lower part of the shaft. In a conventional goalie hockey stick, the longitudinal axis of the paddle is continuous and therefore parallel with the longitudinal axis of the shaft. Further, the edges of the paddle, which are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the paddle, are therefore also parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft.
The governing bodies of various hockey leagues generally set guidelines relating to the construction of sticks. Manufacturers of hockey sticks must produce hockey sticks which meet these guidelines if the manufacturers desire their hockey sticks to be used by the players in any such hockey leagues. One such hockey league is the National Hockey League (the "NHL"). According to the guidelines relating to goalie sticks set by the NHL, the length of the shaft of a goalie stick may not exceed 58 inches and the length of the blade may not exceed 15.5 inches. The height of the blade may not exceed 3.5 inches except at the heel where it may not exceed 4.5 inches. The width of the paddle may not exceed 3.5 inches and the length of the paddle may not exceed 26 inches. Conventional goalie hockey sticks generally meet these specifications.
The angle between the shaft and playing surface when the blade is relatively flat on the playing surface, whether it be a goalie or other hockey stick, is generally known as the "lay" or "lie" of the hockey stick. In order that the paddle of the goalie hockey stick stay close to a goalie's leg pads when the blade is relatively flat on the playing surface, the lay of a goalie hockey stick is generally higher than the lay of other hockey sticks. The higher lay means that handling the puck is generally more cumbersome for a hockey player using a goalie hockey stick than for a hockey player using a stick designed for hockey players other than goalies.
Conventional goalie hockey sticks have a straight shaft which extends from the center of the paddle such that the longitudinal axis of the paddle is coincident to the longitudinal axis of the shaft. However, this design can result in unwanted excessive rotation of the wrist of the goalie while the goalie hockey stick is held in a vertical position. This excessive rotation may in turn cause discomfort to the goalie.
Conventional goalie hockey sticks have a shaft and a blade rigidly attached at the heel of the stick wherein the shaft is widened above the heel to form a paddle. As a result of this construction, particularly in the region of the heel of the stick, the stress region where a conventional goalie stick may tend to break upon excessive stress being placed on the blade is across the height of the blade in a region immediately proximal to the heel. As set out above, the height of the blade usually does not exceed 3.5 inches. Therefore, the stress region in a conventional goalie hockey stick is a relatively small area which is highly susceptible to breakage.
Several modifications to the traditional goalie stick have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,463 (Dolan, 1995) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,157 (Curtis, 1985) each disclose a goalie hockey stick comprising a shaft with a curved portion near the paddle which serves to place the remaining straight portion of the shaft that extends beyond the paddle nearer to the playing surface when the stick is placed in a horizontal position such that a puck is prevented from passing between the stick and the playing surface. In order to create the curved portion of these sticks, bending and/or reshaping of a straight shaft is required. Such bending and/or reshaping adds further manufacturing steps and increased expense in the production of goalie hockey sticks.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a hockey goalie stick which improves the ease with which a goalie may handle the puck, which allows for a decrease in excessive rotation of the wrist of a goalie, which is less susceptible to breakage and which does not require bending or reshaping of the shaft in order to produce a goalie hockey stick which does not allow the puck to pass between the shaft and a playing surface when the shaft and paddle are placed horizontally proximal to the playing surface.